There are many kinds of canine fevers that affect human beings. Especially in Kerala, you'd find almost all of the variants ranging from dog likers (the 'I like, but I don't want it near me' people), dog lovers (the occasional lispers who do try to feed the strays every once in a while), emotional dog lovers (people who try and do some good for the dogs) dog owners (there are different kinds of them, we'll come back to that) and then the extremists—the ones who have mistook dogs for some catastrophic animal that has emerged from the depths of time to vanquish homo sapiens. They doggedly believe that canine genocide is the only way forward for hapless human beings (You'd find this kind more in numbers here in the state).
Before revisiting the classification of dog owners, let me recount what happened a couple of days ago. It's nothing new in this part of the country—I happened to find a lost dog. He was sitting bemusedly in front of a shuttered down garage looking every bit the misfit that he was in his immediate surroundings. He had a red dogcollar and could have been from the lineage of a Spaniel or a Lhasa Apso. Fuddled and muddled, his only covering of warmth was his furry coat. It took little reserve and a one time beckoning for the dewyeyed stranger to come running to my friend and I. Now, do not mistake him, he just came over to us to check if we had food to offer him, not to show his allegiance, which obviously lay rejected on his trusting face.
We made a quick inquiry at nearby shops about his home and whereabouts. All of them claimed to have spotted him wandering on the same road from just that morning. Some milk helped restore his energy. He seemed unsure of things that inhabited the world, for he innocently went ahead to meet passing rickshaws and bikes at the middle of the road.
It's not every day that you're shaken out of the mundane and the uneventful course of your life by an animal that doesn't go beyond throwing you a soulful look of utter confusion. With that as the incentive, we searched out a shelter home for lost animals, 'Friends of Animals' in Kottayam, and asked them if they would take him.
Luckily for us, the non profit organization that works towards rehabilitating abandoned animals turned out to be just the boon we hadn't even imagined. And by the time the volunteer crew got to us, our furry friend was busy outwitting us, shaking the grasp off his collar and running helter-skelter. However, when we did pin him down, he was unruffled and sat down obediently. And finally when he was walked over to the car that was arranged to take him to the shelter, he did not need any goading; he leaped into the backseat and settled himself there, the perfectly cartrained dog that he was.
After a quick examination, the doctor, who heads the NGO, ascertained his age to be between 7 and 8 years. Now, coming back to dog owners, the kind that previously owned our furry friend is the worst kind. They are the 'here now gone tomorrow kind'. They buy puppies on a whim and abandon them when they become a handful. When you bring a puppy home, remember that it is a baby. She is as sensitive as your child is, and needs as much attention and care. If not as much, at least don't be so poisoned as to give them up once your fancy dies and responsibility kicks in.
You might, at this juncture, ask why is this rhetoric on a dog? Why not any other animal? It's rather simple. The dog is the most trusting of animals, and if you've ever owned one, you'll know what it's to be loved. Have you ever had a puppy waiting for you to wake up so that she can fuss over you? That's the luxury you enjoy with a puppy around. And how could you hurt such a simple creature? (that's not to say you can torture other animals).
And do you know what most of us do for them in return? I've heard of stories where dog owners have buried their dogs alive and became models of 'tough love'. You must have at least heard of people inhumanly throwing a litter out of their house when the mommy isn't around. What propels them to hurl innocent babies out?
If you happen to get sucked into the social dimension of the persistent canine problem, I'd like to prod you into looking up more such data that have helped in embellishing our (the society of Kerala) general stance towards fellow animals. And since the previous government helped a lot in pressing the right buttons of the extremists, who cried afoul to the resentment of the entire nation demanding random killing of stray dogs, the attitude towards stray dogs has already been made ample clear. Stray dogs rarely attack without provocation. Most of these reported cases include a child getting bitten. With all due concern, keep your children's hands off these poor creatures. Keep them from throwing a stone at a stray puppy or bursting a cracker near it. In return, the dog won't attack you.
And with all that has been going on, we have a minority who loves them dearly. Excerpt of a conversation between a friend of mine and a neighbor 'aunty' go a long way to prove that
Lady: Oh so you're leaving Kerala, are you?
Friend: Yes aunty, in a month
Lady: Then why do you still have that dog with you? Why don't you drop her off at a faraway
place?
Friend: Oh so that's what you do to your children when you shift places!
